Three more tornadoes confirmed in Va., Md. during storms last month

CaptionWarm winter weather

Karl Merton Ferron, Baltimore Sun

The only clues that this is the first day of winter are the lack of leaves on the trees and the installation of holiday evergreens above Joseph Young and Amanda McCormick of Baltimore, who enjoy the Winter Solstice with an unofficial temperature in the 70s at Mount Vernon Place.

The only clues that this is the first day of winter are the lack of leaves on the trees and the installation of holiday evergreens above Joseph Young and Amanda McCormick of Baltimore, who enjoy the Winter Solstice with an unofficial temperature in the 70s at Mount Vernon Place. (Karl Merton Ferron, Baltimore Sun)

All were rated EF-0 on the Enhanced Fujita scale, the weakest category of tornado, and lasted just a few minutes each.

One was in the Broomes Island area of Calvert County, uprooting two oak trees 1-2 feet in diameter, destroying the roof of a farm building and ripping off tree limbs. The tornado had maximum wind speeds of 70 mph and was on the ground for about 3 minutes.

It was the second confirmed tornado in Southern Maryland that day -- another was found to have moved along a 14-mile path from the Oakley area to California and the Patuxent River, dissipating about the same time the other tornado formed to its north.

Two other newly confirmed tornadoes passed through Northern Virginia, in the Thornburg area of Spotsylvania County and in rural King George County.

The National Weather Service said a tornado crossed much of southern St. Mary's County during Thursday afternoon storms -- the second twister confirmed in the state that day and the second in four days for St. Mary's.

The National Weather Service has confirmed at least three tornadoes touched down in Maryland on Monday — in the Fork area of Baltimore County, Locust Point in South Baltimore and Coltons Point in St. Mary’s County.

Historic flooding and the coldest temperatures in decades made weather headlines in Baltimore in 2014. Rainfall records were set in April and August, and after a frigid winter, the summer was comfortable and fall cool. The year is expected to be the coolest and wettest here in years.